Month: June 2014

It’s not ALWAYS true, but most of the time, photos and videos put the centre of interest in the, ummm, centre. When I noticed how Youtube was making a clown of Leonard Cohen, I thought how old analogue TVs handled the situation.
Put the control button off to the side, Youtube. Take a chance on us … we’ll find it.

Burrard Street Bridge, Vancouver. Pastel on coloured paper. By Helen Andersen, signed “Andy”.
This one is freshly matted and now hangs in Danica’s office. In the 1960s Helen often used pastels for colour sketching. It afforded her a quick way to make colour notes for later paintings, but she also used pastel for finished compositions … especially ones with industrial themes.

http://vimeo.com/9733014
My friend Ian has a sister Eileen who is a great, natural curator of the internet. She sends marvellous stuff, this being one example. Thanks, Ian, for sharing your good fortune.

Ben was at the centre of many human connections, working as he did to unite diverse cultures under Canada’s flag. As longtime editor of Canadian Scene news and decade-long president of the Canadian Ethnic Media Association, Ben strove to lead newcomers to our country into Canada’s political, artistic and business mainstream.
He’s still connecting people, even though he’s been gone for 4 years!

I first met Kash and Carlotta, owners of Il Gelato di Carlotta, and Ruth and John Robert Colombo through Ben, back when I was helping set up his web site. We all played different roles in Ben’s career and we remain in touch, enjoying his memory sweetly with delicious Italian treats. How appropriate. Ben’s father was Italian.
The timing is good, too. Ben used to celebrate Canada’s birthday as his own, which was actually one day later. He dressed in red and white and threw a party every year.

I’m posting this as a memory aid, because it’s becoming difficult to interpret the Pride Parade acronym for participants. LGBTTIQQ2SA stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Transexual, Interested, Queer, Questioning, 2-Spirited and Allies.
Heterosexual Politicians were early supporters (except for one mayor), so H and a P should probably be added. The A for Allies would cover them, but it is needed for the Asexuals who are feeling left out.
NoJetsTO just emailed me saying they would be marching to express Pride in our Waterfront. N, J, T, O and perhaps W for Waterfront. So basically, it’s becoming a parade for anybody who is proud of anything.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as the Seinfeld bit went.
The funny thing is, some groups are banned from the parade.

Do you ever forward an item to someone without first reading, viewing or listening to it yourself? Apparently it’s common in our online world. Happens with with books, too.
I’ve had this book in storage and recall leafing through it 20 years ago. It’s about human habitation of North America from 200,000 years ago until the 1990s.
Obviously, most of that time covers the history of First Nations people, so I thought “I know who would like this book” … a woman I know in the Idle No More movement.
But then I realized that she was probably well aware the stories, while I was not. It’s me that should read it properly, not her.

One of those nostalgia emails is going around, showing pictures of things that under 50s can’t recognize. The lunch bag reminded me of the time my mother asked us kids what we should get for our stepfather’s birthday … or Fathers Day … can’t be sure which it was.
Anyway, Helen wanted to get the children involved in choosing the gift, probably as a way of cementing his position as “Dad”. We suggested golf things that were too expensive at the time. A carton of cigarettes seemed too mundane.

Over 88% of visitors to this site in June spent less than 30 seconds here. I take this to mean that I am popular with speed readers.

Whatever you may think of Leonard Cohen’s work, I think you’ll agree that this interview with young Adrienne Clarkson (much later our Governor General!) stands up quite well. Toronto, 1965.

The painter he refers to as “Town” would be Harold Town who was enjoying stardom at the time. I find that interesting because the two men share similarities as artists. They had a knack for plucking bits and pieces from academic culture and popularizing them with romantic flair.
There are more videos of the young Cohen aggregated on Open Culture, if you’d like to see serious young ladies under the poet’s spell.

Before Danica packed up all of Helen’s discovered art cache for shipment to Toronto last year, our 4-year-old great nephew Carson got to pick one for himself. He deliberated. His choice (below) is surprisingly sophisticated for a little boy. No bright colours, very little “action”.
Cool choice, Carson. Now that it’s framed and matted, visiting friends will drive in back to Victoria and you will have it soon. Wow! You’ve been waiting for a quarter of your lifetime!

Carson has a little brother Jackson, who needs art for his room, too. He was a bit young to make his own selection so we picked out one for him. It’s on the way soon, along with Carson’s piece.

Two watercolours, signed by the artist